Managing advertising devices

ABSTRACT

In one general aspect, a request to determine a status of a first of a plurality of advertising devices is received. The advertising devices are spatially separated. Operating conditions of the first advertising device are identified. The status of the first advertising device is determined based, at least in part, on the operating conditions. A presentation including information indicating the status of the first advertising device is transmitted.

BACKGROUND

An organization's advertising devices (e.g., billboards, video displays)are typically managed through conventional means such as by assigningthe equipment to an individual or department and periodically physicallyinspecting the devices to ensure they are operating and/or to changeoperating conditions. Generally, advertising devices include componentsthat are electrical and/or mechanical and are exposed to environmentalconditions beyond the control of the organization. For example, abillboard includes lamps that may be exposed to rain, snow, hail, hightemperatures, and other extreme operating conditions. As a result, thecomponents may not operate as intended and may in fact fail to operatedue to such conditions. There may be a delay between failure of theadvertising device and physical inspection. Such delays preventadvertising devices from providing information to target audiences.

SUMMARY

In one general aspect, a request to determine a status of a first of aplurality of advertising devices is received. The advertising devicesare spatially separated. Operating conditions of the first advertisingdevice are identified. The status of the first advertising device isdetermined based, at least in part, on the operating conditions. Apresentation including information indicating the status of the firstadvertising device is transmitted.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. Inresponse to at least one component violating specified operatingconditions, a notification indicating the violation is generated. Thenotification is transmitted to a user via a network. The advertisingdevice comprising a billboard, and the component comprises a lamp. Arequest to update the operating conditions of the first advertisingdevice is received. A command based, at least in part, on the selectionis transmitted to the first advertising device.

The details of one or more embodiments of the invention are set forth inthe accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features,objects, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thedescription and drawings, and from the claims.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a management system;

FIGS. 2A-2E are example Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram for managing advertising devices of FIG. 1.

Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like components.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates one example of an advertising device managementsystem 100. At a high level, system 100 is a client/server environmentcomprising a plurality of advertising devices 102, a server 104, and atleast one client 106 communicably coupled via a network 108, but system100 may also be a standard computing environment or any other suitableenvironment. In general, management system 100 is operable to identify aplurality of advertising devices 102, receive a selection from a user ofclient 106, and independently manage one of the plurality of advertisingdevices 102 in response to the user selection. Therefore, managementsystem 100 may allow a user to remotely manage each of a plurality ofadvertising devices 102. Put another way, management system 100 mayenable the user to control advertising device 102 via a graphical userinterface (GUI). Generally, in order to maintain advertising devices 102in operating conditions, an individual would have to periodicallyphysically inspect each advertising device 102 to ensure that devicecomponents (e.g., power supply, light source) were operating correctly.Managing advertising devices 102 may become extremely burdensome as thenumber of advertising devices 102 increases. To overcome this burden,managing system 100 may enable the user to remotely monitor and/orcontrol a power supply or other components associated with advertisingdevice 102. As a result, management system 100 may reduce, minimize, oreliminate time need to physically inspect each advertising device 102 tomaintain them in operating conditions. Further, system 100 may allowmore customized and independent control of operational timing ofadvertising devices 102. In some embodiments, intelligence of system 100is centrally located at server 104, and, in this case, server 104manages individual advertising devices 102 independent of otheradvertising devices 102. In other words, server 104 may independentlyturn on and off individual advertising devices by transmitting a messagerouted directly to the specific advertising devices.

Advertising device 102 can include any hardware, software, and/orfirmware operable to provide advertising information to individualsand/or devices within a proximity of advertising device 102. Advertisinginformation may include a static visual display (e.g., billboard), adynamic display (e.g., video display), video, audio, text, anelectromagnetic signal encoding data (e.g., Bluetooth), and/or otherinformation. In some embodiments, advertising device 102 may includecomponents 110 (e.g., lights, controller, camera, receiver, transmitter,override switch, push-to-talk button) that enable advertising device 102to provide associated advertising information. For example, advertisingdevice 102 may comprise a billboard 102 with lights 110 a to illuminatebillboard 102. In this case, billboard 102 may be single, double-faced,or multi-faced displays with associated lights 110 a. In addition,advertising device 102 may include a controller 110 b for controllingpower to other components associated with advertising device 102. Insome embodiments, controller 1l0 b may be attached to existing circuitryof billboard 102. In some embodiments, controller 110 b is operable toperiodically transmit operating parameters to server 104 such as amps,watts, or others. To enable wireless communication with network 108,advertising device 102 may include a receiver and transmitter operableto receive signals from and transmit signals to network 108. In someembodiments, advertising device 102 maintains a connection to theGSM/GPRS network for receiving and transmitting data. Advertising device102 may use other suitable wireless protocols such as a wireless modem.Advertising device 102 may be able to process SMS messaging for back-upcommunication or expanding features. Advertising device 102 may receivecommands to supply and/or shut down power to components 110 such aslights 110 a. In some examples, advertising device 102 transmitsdiagnostic information such that the operating condition of advertisingdevice 102 may be determined. In some embodiments, advertising device102 includes a CDPD (Cellular Digital Packet Data) or GPRS (GeneralPacket Radio Service) wireless modem. In addition, advertising device102 may include a push-to-talk button enabling technicians to discussthe advertising device 102 with customer and/or technical support. Inany case, advertising device 102 is communicably coupled to server 104via network 108.

Network 108 facilitates wireless or wireline communication betweenadvertising devices 102, server 104, client 106 and any other local orremote computer. Network 108 encompasses any internal or externalnetwork, networks, sub-network, or combination thereof operable tofacilitate communications between various computing components in system100. Network 108 may communicate, for example, Internet Protocol (IP)packets, Frame Relay frames, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) cells,voice, video, data, and other suitable information between networkaddresses. Network 108 may include one or more local area networks(LANs), radio access networks (RANs), metropolitan area networks (MANs),wide area networks (WANs), all or a portion of the global computernetwork known as the Internet, and/or any other communication system orsystems at one or more locations.

Client 106 is any local or remote computing device operable to transmitrequests 150 to server 104 and present output (such as properties orreports of advertising devices 102) via a GUI 116. At a high level,client 106 includes at least GUI 116 and comprises an electroniccomputing device operable to receive, transmit, process and store anyappropriate data associated with system 100. It will be understood thatthere may be any number of clients 106 communicably coupled to server104. Further, reference to “client 106” generally may be replaced by theterm “user,” and vice versa, throughout. As used in this disclosure,client 106 is intended to encompass a personal computer, touch screenterminal, workstation, network computer, kiosk, wireless data port,wireless or wireline phone, personal data assistant (PDA), one or moreprocessors within these or other 1 5 devices, or any other suitableprocessing device or computer. For example, client 106 may comprise acomputer that includes an input device, such as a keypad, touch screen,mouse, or other device that can accept information, and an output devicethat conveys information associated with the operation of server 104 orclients 106, including digital data, visual information, or GUI 116.Both the input device and output device may include fixed or removablestorage media such as a magnetic computer disk, CD-ROM, or othersuitable media to both receive input from and provide output to users ofclients 106 through the display, namely GUI 116.

GUI 116 comprises a graphical user interface operable to allow the userof client 106 to interface with at least a portion of system 100 for anysuitable purpose. Generally, GUI 116 provides the user of client 106with an efficient and user-friendly presentation of data provided by orcommunicated within system 100. For example, GUI 116 may be a front-endof monitoring engine 140 (discussed below) and provide functionality tomonitor operating conditions and alerts associated with advertisingdevices 102. Conceptually, the user logs into server 104 (may be securedaccess) through GUI 116, which then presents a list of advertisingdevices 102. By selecting a particular advertising device 102, GUI 116may display activity history, alert history, operating conditions,scheduled activity, and other information associated with advertisingdevice 102. For example, GUI 116 may display one or more of thefollowing: index of faults and associated time periods, maintenance logincluding time of fault detection and repair, maintenance cost graph,historical data, graphical representation of energy costs, real-timepictorial representation of lighting status, or layered access tomanaged advertising devices (e.g., regional, local, maintenance levels).Using GUI 116, the user can define directives in order to controloperations of a particular advertising device 102. Put in other words,the user may also control advertising devices 102 using this particularview of GUI 116. For example, the user can start, stop, or suspend theactivity of advertising device 102. In addition, GUI 116 may providealerts determined by server 104 or in response to a particulardirective.

Regardless of the particular data, GUI 116 may comprise a plurality ofcustomizable frames or windows having interactive fields, pull-downlists, and buttons operated by the user. In some embodiments, GUI 116presents device information associated with advertising devices 102,including operating conditions, and associated buttons and receivescommands from the user of client 106 via one of the input devices. Thisinformation may be presented in tabular, graphical, and any othersuitable format. Moreover, it should be understood that the termgraphical user interface may be used in the singular or in the plural todescribe one or more graphical user interfaces and each of the displaysof a particular graphical user interface. Therefore, GUI 116 can includeany graphical user interface, such as a generic web browser or touchscreen, that processes information in system 100 and efficientlypresents the results to the user. Server 104 can accept data from client106 via the web browser (e.g., Microsoft Internet Explorer or NetscapeNavigator) and return the appropriate HTML or XML responses usingnetwork 108. For example, server 104 may receive a status request 150from client 106 using the web browser, retrieve data from the particulardevice profile 130, and present the results in the web browser.

Illustrated server 104 includes memory 120 and processor 125 andcomprises an electronic computing device operable to receive, transmit,process and store data associated with system 100. For example, server104 may be any computer or processing device such as, for example, ablade server, general-purpose personal computer (PC), Macintosh,workstation, Unix-based computer, or any other suitable device.Generally, FIG. 1 provides merely one example of computers that may beused with the disclosure. For example, although FIG. 1 illustrates oneserver 104 that may be used with the disclosure, server 104 can beimplemented using computers other than servers, as well as a serverpool. Server 104 may be adapted to execute any operating systemincluding Linux, UNIX, Windows Server, z/OS or any other suitableoperating system. But, servers other than general purpose computers aswell as servers without conventional operating systems can be used.According to some embodiments, server 104 may also include or becommunicably coupled with a web server and/or a data server.

Memory 120 may include any memory or database module and may take theform of volatile or non-volatile memory including, without limitation,magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-onlymemory (ROM), removable media, or any other suitable local or remotememory component. In this embodiment, illustrated memory 120 storesdevice profiles 130 and configuration policies 135, but may also includeany other appropriate data such as a activity history, print or otherreporting files, HTML files or templates, and others. Device profiles130 include one or more entries or data structures that describe aprofile of an advertising device 102 and/or a group of advertisingdevices 102. For example, a device profile 130 may include, indicate, orreference one or more of the following: a device name, a device ID, adevice type, an associated group name, list of on-going faults,maintenance log, maintenance costs, log of energy consumption, amanufacturer name, a model name, a component name, a component version,a configuration setting, a geographic location (e.g., street address),networking information, and/or any other suitable information associatedwith advertising device 102 and/or group of advertising devices. Deviceprofile 130 may identify components 110 associated with a specificadvertising device 102 such as lights 110 a and controller 110 b. Inaddition, device profile 130 may be associated with an individual and/orgroup of advertising devices 102. Device profiles 130 may be stored inany suitable format such as, for example, an extensible Markup Language(XML) document, a flat file, comma separated value (CSV) file, aname-value pair file, SQL table, or others. Indeed, each profile 130 maybe a temporary or a persistent data structure without departing from thescope of the disclosure. Device profiles 130 are typically generated orloaded based on data or other configuration information received orretrieved from advertising device 102. But device profiles 130 may alsobe created, updated, or supplied by server 104, a third-party softwarevendor, or any appropriate user of any computer in system 100, loadedfrom a default profile, or received via network 108.

Each configuration file 135 include any parameters, variables, policies,algorithms, instructions, settings, or directives used by server 104 formanaging advertising devices 102. In some examples, configuration file135 includes directives used to access, retrieve, and processinformation from advertising device 102. Configuration file 135 mayinclude technical data such that server 104, using the technical data,may access and retrieve data from advertising device 102 and determineoperating conditions of advertising device 102 based, at least in part,on the retrieved data. For example, configuration file 135 may providedirectives for retrieving power consumption information from powersupply 110 b and determining whether the power consumption indicatesthat all lights 110 a are operating normally. In addition, configurationfile 135 may include directives for adjusting, altering, or otherwisecontrolling settings of a specific advertising device 102. In this case,the user may be able to adjust the schedule of a specific advertisingdevice via client 106 without requiring an individual to having to go tothe site. In some embodiments, configuration file 135 stores a schedulesuch as timing settings that may be adjusted by the user using client106. For example, configuration file 135 may include directives to turnlights 110 a on at a specific time and to turn lights 110 a off at aspecific time. Configuration file 135 may include multiple ON/OFFevents, weekday and weekend schedules, future scheduling, or types ofscheduling. In other words, the directives may include a scheduletransmitted to a timer associated with advertising device 102 forupdating the operation of the time in accordance with the schedule. Inaddition to a set schedule, the user may be capable to the control theoperating conditions at times outside the scope of the schedule. In someembodiments, configuration file 135 may include directives to transmiton and off commands to advertising device in accordance with a schedule.Configuration file 135 may include directives to adjust operatingconditions of different sides of a specific advertising device 102 atdifferent times. In some examples, configuration file 135 may includedirectives to adjust lighting loads based on seasonal changes of sunsetand sunrise times such as automatically changing times based on daylightsavings time. In some examples, the sunrise and sunset times are basedon the U.S. Naval Observatory depending on the physical location of eachadvertising device 102. In some examples, the operating conditions ofthe advertising devices may be based on monetary budgets such as totalmonthly operating costs. In other words, the user may control anadvertising device 102 based on cost not time.

Technical information included in configuration file 135 may include oneor more of the following: a network address, login information, list ofcommands, list of parameters associated with commands, controller 110 bcapabilities, or information associated with retrieving and/orprocessing device data. Of course, the above parameters are for examplepurposes and may not reflect certain embodiments within the scope ofthis disclosure. In some embodiments, configuration file 135 includes orindicates automatic actions to take in response to determining specificoperating conditions. For example, configuration 135 may indicate thatpower supply 110 b should be shut down in the event of a short. In thebillboard embodiment, such operating conditions may include one or moreof the following: power outage, tripped breaker, lamp outage, or ballastfailure. Each configuration file 135 may be associated with a specificadvertising device 102 or a plurality of advertising devices 102 or aplurality of advertising devices 102 may be associated with a specificconfiguration file 135. In some embodiments, profiles 135 may beformatted, stored, or defined as various data structures in text files,XML documents, flat files, Btrieve files, CSV files, internal variables,or one or more libraries.

Server 104 also includes processor 125. Processor 125 executesinstructions and manipulates data to perform the operations of server104 such as, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a blade, anapplication specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or a field-programmablegate array (FPGA). Although FIG. 1 illustrates a single processor 125 inserver 104, multiple processors 125 may be used according to particularneeds and reference to processor 125 is meant to include multipleprocessors 125 where applicable. In the illustrated embodiment,processor 125 executes monitoring engine 140 and presentation engine145.

Monitoring engine 140 is any software operable to dynamically implementconfiguration profiles 135 to manage advertising devices 102 andautomatically respond to, notify of, or otherwise process aberrantoperating conditions. As used herein, “software” includes anycombination of hardware, software, or firmware as appropriate. Forexample, monitoring engine 140 may be written or described in anyappropriate computer language including C, C++, Java, J#, Visual Basic,assembler, Perl, any suitable version of 4GL, as well as others. In someembodiments, monitoring engine 140 receives request 150 to monitoradvertising device 102 (e.g., energy consumption) from client 106.Request 150 may include a user name, a password, an identifier ofadvertising device 102, or any other suitable information. Based, atleast in part, on request 150, monitoring engine 140 identifies aparticular configuration profile 135 associated with the identifiedadvertising device 102 and retrieves device information from theidentified advertising device 102 in accordance with the particularconfiguration profile 135. Monitoring engine 14 may communicate withadvertising device 102 using the UDP/TCP protocol. In some embodiments,monitoring engine 140 receives raw data (e.g., amps, watts) from theadvertising device and process it determine errors or status of theadvertising device 102. Monitoring engine 140 may determining one ormore the following that may be included in incoming threads: modem ID,IP address, signal strength, readings, I/O status, command sets, eventsettings, or others.

After retrieving data, monitoring engine 140 may determine operatingconditions of advertising 102 in accordance with the associatedconfiguration file 135. For example, monitoring engine 140 may usedirectives retrieved from configuration file 135 and the retrieved datato determine if the power consumption of advertising device 102 iswithin a specific range. In some examples, power consumption outside thespecific range indicates that one or more lights 110 a (or bulbs) areburnt out. Other detectable errors may include power outage, trippedbreaker, lamp outage, ballast failure, or others. In some embodiments,the monitoring 140 may process true RMS measurements for faultdetections. As a result, maintenance crews may be able to have theproper material for repair with knowledge and diagnosis of the problemsbefore arriving at the site. In response to the determination,monitoring engine 140 may transmit commands to advertising device 102such as shut down or increase power supply. In some embodiments,monitoring engine 140 transmits request to a specific advertising device102 using a network address operable to route the message through anetwork to the specific advertising device 102. As a result, monitoringengine 140 may independently control specific advertising devices 102without broadcasting commands. For example, each advertising device 102may be dynamically assigned an IP address such that request may routedthrough a packet-switched network to the advertising device 102 usingthe IP address. In some instances, some or each advertising devices 102may be assigned a static IP address. In addition, monitoring engine 140may verify states of controller 110 b upon power outages or reception ofa new IP address.

Based on retrieved data from advertising device 102, monitoring engine140 may determine violations of directives included in configurationfiles 135 by, for example, comparing the data to the directives. Inresponse to determining a violation, the monitoring engine 140 mayautomatically communicate an alert and/or record the occurrence indevice profile 119. For example, an alert may include sending an emailto particular personnel, communicating a message to client 106 oranother computer in the network 108, updating a display includinginformation associated with advertising device 102, or other appropriateaction. An alert may also included aggregating a record of aberrantoperating conditions in device profile 130 and transmitting a notice tothe use if the aberrant operating conditions exceed a specified amountof time.

In the illustrated embodiment, processor 108 may execute or processpresentation engine 145 that automatically generates GUI 116 based, atleast in part, on device profile 130. In some embodiments, presentationengine 145 may generate GUI 116 in response to data retrieved fromadvertising device 102 and/or determination of operating conditions ofadvertising device 102. Presentation engine 145 could include anyhardware, software, firmware, or combination thereof operable to receivea client's request 150 from client 106, retrieve data from deviceprofile 130, automatically generate GUI 116, and populate GUI 116 withretrieved data.

In one aspect of operation, client 106 receives a selection from a uservia GUI 116 to provide a status of an advertising device 102. Inresponse to the selection, client 106 transmits a request 150 to server104 via network 108. Based, at least in part, on request 150, monitoringengine 150 identifies one or more device profiles 130 associated withadvertising device 102. Using the associated device profiles 130,presentation engine 145 retrieves operating parameters. Presentationengine 145 generates a GUI 116 and, in accordance with request 150,populates GUI 116 with associated data from device profiles 130.Presentation engine 145 transmits a response 155 including GUI 116 toclient 106 to present the request data to the user. In response to atleast the data presented by GUI 116, the user may issue a command toserver 104. For example, the user may issue a command to activate anoverride switch of advertising device 102 to enable maintenance to beperformed. Activating an override switch will override the currentoperating settings of an advertising device 102 to shut down theadvertising device 102. As a result, when a specific advertising deviceneeds to be repaired, an individual advertising 102 may be shut downallowing a maintenance worker to safely work with the specificadvertising device 102.

FIGS. 2A-E are example displays for presenting various properties ofadvertising devices 102 in accordance with one embodiment of system 100.It will be understood that illustrated web pages 116 a-116 e,respectively, are for example purposes only. Accordingly, GUI 116 mayinclude or present data in any format or descriptive language and eachpage may present any appropriate data in any layout.

Turning to the illustrated embodiments, FIG. 2A illustrates an examplestatus view 116 a. In this view 116 a, the user may be able to viewinformation indicating problems with particular advertising devices 102and changes that may be applied to particular advertising devices 102that day. In other words, status view 116 a is a graphicalrepresentation of a summary of problems and duration of the identifiedproblem. In the illustrated embodiments, status view 116 a includes aproblem table 202 and a schedule table 204. Each table includes aspreadsheet with several columns and rows, with each intersectioncomprising a cell. Each cell is populated with information associatedwith jobs or alerts. The illustrated problem table 202 includes threecolumns: Billboard ID, Date, and Problem Description. The problem table202 includes a row for each billboard that includes a problem with alight 110 a. In the event that the user wants to identify the locationof the particular billboard 102, the user may select the billboard ID inthe problem table 202. In response to the selection, server 104 maygenerate GUI 116 b illustrated in FIG. 2B indicating a street address ofthe billboard 102. Each row may be color coded to indicate the durationof a problem with the identified billboard 102. In some embodiments, theproblem table 202 may be sorted by date or problem description. Theillustrated schedule table 204 includes the three columns: Billboard ID,New “On” Time, and New “Off” Time. The schedule table 204 includes a rowfor each billboard 102 whose on and off times will be changed that day.

FIG. 2C illustrates an example summary view 116 c. In this view 116 c,the user may be able to view billboards associated with the user. Forexample, the user may be able to view all billboards 102 associated witha particular company or other entity. In other words, view 116 c is agraphical representation of a summary of billboards. In the illustratedembodiments, summary view 116 c includes a status table 206. Theillustrated status table 206 includes four columns: Billboard ID,Address, Zip Code, and Status. The status table 204 includes a row foreach billboard 102 associated with the user. In some embodiments, thestatus table 206 may be sorted by date, zip code, and/or status. In theevent that the user wants to view additional information associated withthe particular billboard 102, the user may select the billboard ID inthe status table 206. In response to the selection, server 104 maygenerate GUI 116 d illustrated in FIG. 2D indicating scheduling andlocation information associated with the billboard 102. The schedulinginformation may indicate the schedule that components 110 are adjustedsuch as the times that the lights 110 a are turned on and off. Thelocation information may identify a street address.

FIG. 2E illustrates a company view 116 e. In this view 116 e, the usermay be able to view information indicating the company (or entity)associated with billboards 102, contact information, and preferences. Inother words, company view 116 e is a graphical representation of asummary of the company and preferences. For example, the company view116 e may identify the company name and address along with the contactinformation of the user. The user may also select the method thatmonitoring engine 140 notifies the user of a problem with a particularbillboard 102. For example, monitoring engine 140 may email or fax theuser in response to detecting a problem. In some embodiments, monitoringengine 140 may notify multiple users of a problem. The company view 116e may include other preferences such as login preferences, sorting ofsummary view 116 c, illustrating scheduled events, and others.

FIG. 3 illustrates a flow diagram implementing an example process forusing management system 100 of FIG. 1 to verify activities of anindividual. Process 300 is described with respect to management system100 of FIG. 1, but process 300 could be used by any other application orapplications. Thus, many of the steps in this flowchart may take placesimultaneously and/or in different orders as shown. Further, managementsystem 100 may execute logic implementing techniques similar to one orboth of process 300 in parallel or in sequence Management system 100 mayalso use processes with additional steps, fewer steps, and/or differentsteps, so long as the processes remain appropriate.

Process 300 begins with step 302 where monitoring engine 140 receives arequest to monitor advertising devices 102 associated with an enterpriseor other entity. Next, at step 304, monitoring engine 140 receiveslocation information, scheduling information, and operating parametersand directives associated with each advertising devices 102. At step306, monitoring engine 140 generates configuration files associated withadvertising devices 102 for providing associated directives. Monitoringengine 140 generates a device profile 130 for each advertising device102 for recording status information at step 308. At step 310,monitoring engine 140 associates each device profile 130 with acorresponding configuration file 135. After generating profiles 130 andfiles 135, monitoring engine 140 monitors advertising devices 102 inaccordance with configuration files 135 at step 312. At step 314,monitoring engine 140 updates associated device profiles 130 with dataretrieved from advertising devices 102. If monitoring engine 140determines a violation of a parameter included in a configuration file135 at decisional step 316, then, at step 318, monitoring engine 140transmits a notification to the user.

At step 320, monitoring engine 140 receives a status request 150 from auser of client 106. In response to request 150, monitoring engine 140identifies the device profiles 130 associated with the user at step 322.In addition, monitoring engine 140 identifies configuration files 135associated with the identified device files 130. Next, at step 326,monitoring engine 140 retrieves current operating parameters fromadvertising devices 102. The current data is merged with the data storedin device profiles 130 at step 328. At step 334, presentation engine 145generates a GUI 116 including at least a portion of the data.Presentation engine 145 transmits GUI 116 to client 106 for presentingto the user at step 336. If a selection is made by the user atdecisional step 338, presentation engine 145 generates a new and/orupdates GUI 116 in accordance with the user selection at step 340.Presentation engine 145 transmits GUI 116 to the user at step 342.

Although this disclosure has been described in terms of certainembodiments and generally associated methods, alterations, andpermutations of these embodiments and methods will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art. Accordingly, the above description of exampleembodiments does not define or constrain this disclosure. Other changes,substitutions, and alterations are also possible without departing fromthe spirit and scope of this disclosure.

1. A method, comprising: receiving a request to determine a status of afirst of a plurality of advertising devices, wherein the advertisingdevices are spatially separated; identifying operating conditions of thefirst advertising device; determining the status of the firstadvertising device based, at least in part, on the operating conditions;and transmitting a presentation including information indicating thestatus of the first advertising device.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein identifying operating conditions of the first advertising devicecomprising identifying operating conditions of a power supply of thefirst advertising device.
 3. The method of claim 1, the firstadvertising device includes components, wherein determining the statusof the first advertising device comprises determining whether thecomponents are operating within specified operating conditions.
 4. Themethod of claim 3, further comprising: in response to at least onecomponent violating specified operating conditions, generating anotification indicating the violation; and transmitting the notificationto a user via a network.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein determiningthe status of the first advertising device comprises determining that acomponent of the first advertising device is not operating.
 6. Themethod of claim 1, the advertising device comprising a billboard and thecomponent comprises a lamp.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein theplurality of advertising devices comprises a plurality of billboards. 8.The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving a request to updatethe operating conditions of the first advertising device; andtransmitting a command to the first advertising device based, at leastin part, on the selection independent of other advertising devices. 9.The method of claim 8, wherein the request comprises a selection via thepresentation.
 10. The method of claim 8, wherein the operatingconditions comprise a schedule for activating and deactivating theadvertising device.
 11. An apparatus, comprising: a receiver operable toreceive wireless signals encoding requests; a controller operable toprocess the requests and determine operating conditions of componentsassociated with an advertising device in accordance with the request; atransmitter operable to transmit wireless signals to a network componentencoding the operating conditions of the components; and wherein theapparatus is associated with a network address.
 12. The apparatus ofclaim 11, wherein the wireless signals comprise cellular signals. 13.The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the controller is further operable toadjust the operating conditions of the components in response to therequests.
 14. An article comprising a machine-readable medium storinginstructions for causing data processing apparatus to perform operationscomprising: receiving a request to determine a status of a first of aplurality of advertising devices, wherein the advertising devices arespatially separated; identifying operating conditions of the firstadvertising device; determining the status of the first advertisingdevice based, at least in part, on the operating conditions; andtransmitting a presentation including information indicating the statusof the first advertising device.
 15. The article of claim 14, the firstadvertising device includes components, wherein determining the statusof the first advertising device comprises determining whether thecomponents are operating within specified operating conditions.
 16. Thearticle of claim 15, the article further performing operations: inresponse to at least one component violating specified operatingconditions, generating a notification indicating the violation; andtransmitting the notification to a user via a network.
 17. The articleof claim 14, wherein determining the status of the first advertisingdevice comprises determining that a component of the first advertisingdevice is not operating.
 18. The article of claim 14, the articlefurther performing operations: receiving a request to update theoperating conditions of the first advertising device; and transmitting acommand to the first advertising device based, at least in part, on theselection independent of other advertising devices.
 19. The article ofclaim 18, wherein the operating conditions comprise a schedule foractivating and deactivating the advertising device.
 20. A method,comprising: identifying a command associated with a first of a pluralityof advertising devices; identifying a network address associated withthe first advertising device, wherein the network address is operable toroute the command through a network to the first advertising device; andtransmitting the command to the first advertising device using thenetwork address.
 21. The method of claim 20, wherein the commandcomprises a request for operating conditions of the first advertisingdevice.
 22. The method of claim 20, wherein the command comprises aschedule for updating a timer associated with the first advertisingdevice.
 23. The method of claim 20, wherein identifying a commandcomprises receiving a request to shut down the first advertising devicefrom a user.
 24. The method of claim 20, further comprising: identifyingoperating parameters associated with the first advertising device;determining the operating parameters of the first advertising deviceviolates a specific operating range; and wherein the command is operableto adjust the operating parameters of the first advertising device. 25.The method of claim 24, wherein the adjustment comprises shutting downthe first advertising device for maintenance.
 26. The method of claim24, wherein the adjustment comprises increasing a power supply to thefirst advertising device.
 27. The method of claim 24, wherein thenetwork address comprises a dynamically assigned Internet Protocol (IP)address.